Response to Feedback

After having read the feedback that was given to me on my Theory, History, and Research paper, I wanted to quickly respond to some of the things that were said, and mention some areas which I think will be really helpful for me going forward with my work.

For starters, I want to emphasize that when speaking about my own work, I don't expect the viewer to feel strongly as I do and hold my artwork to such a high status. I view this paper as less of an artist statement, but rather an opportunity to be open and honest about where we think our art stands and ranks amongst today's contemporary scene. My "scene" hones around the aesthetics of the modern animal artist (most of which happen to be western painters and sculptors), which explains why I mentioned that my work divulges very far from artists who are creating work that emulates the traditional western style paintings of the 19th century. Lea, you mentioned that some of my statements were overtly "pompous" especially in terms of me mentioning that my work fell somewhat high on the contemporary scale. I do want to mention that for me, this wasn't a paper that was addressed to an audience member or meant to seem boastful in any way. When I mention that it ranks "high" I am speaking in terms of the contemporary realm of where I belong (meaning the traditional, Western animal artists of today). "High" in this case does not mean that I feel I am at the very top of ladder with the best of today's animal artists, but my manipulations and use of surrealism with these subjects (and to the degree in which they are related to the natural sciences) is something that I have never seen before and opens up an entirely new branch of contemporary animal art. I do, agree that is is highly unwise to tell the audience how to feel, and want to mention that I never, and in no way intend, to ever do this sort of thing. For the purposes of this paper and to address the questions that were posed, I mentioned the above statements to be open and honest with the intention of being able to move forward and progress with the work I am creating. On another note, I have considered using my work to represent topics that are outside of Colorado - especially those which address the plight of wildlife today. In many ways, the harmonious feel of my work is meant to evoke a literal representation of the delicacy, complexity, and inter-connectivity of the natural world and I think that through that ideal it can help to bring that sort of message across, although I don't feel as if it is as severe or "in your face" as it necessarily could be to create an even stronger dialogue. That would be something I'd be interested in exploring.

Sarah, you are completely right when it comes to understanding the history of animal art an artists who have used wildlife as a subject in BOTH forms of science and art. I realize now that I completely spaced mentioning much about this art-historical aspect of things, but I have been very much using those as a means of history and research. Specifically, I have recently been looking at the specimen drawings done by "Peter Rabbit" author and illustrator, Beatrix Potter, as she worked in a natural history museum drawing various specimens within collections that were then distributed to scientists and used for taxonomic purposes. I completely agree in that there are MANY artists today who are using the animal as form, and I have overlooked ALL of them, aside from Josh Keyes. I need to get away from that and open up my mind to accepting other artists as well. I will be sure to do that in the future.

Deborah - You wrote so much! Bless you!!! One thing I really took away from your response was the mentioning of anthropomorphism and our culture's fascination with attributing human features or gestures to wildlife - something that is seen in Disney movies very often. In fact, Walt Disney's work has always been a HUGE inspiration to me in terms of story and the ability to convey feelings, or capture a moment on a 2 dimensional surface. You are also right in saying that truth is stranger than fiction. When I read up on new developments within the realm of the natural sciences, I often look for things that seem very out of the ordinary, but have true factual representation in the real world. Those are the things which really help to drive my pieces forward.

Aside from the paper, it is work work work from here on out! I'm planning to really push working on sculpture this weekend, and see where that takes me in the next few weeks. Catherine mentioned using my own sculptures as a means of reference to create paintings in the future - essentially using my own stuff as research.